Spaghettification #AtoZChallenge

Spaghettification – the process by which an object would be stretched and ripped apart by gravitational forces on falling into a black hole.

The engines of the spaceship let out a desperate sound of straining and Colbert put more pressure on them. He was determined not loss this gravity fight with the black hole. The lives of his crew were in his hands and they had been through so much all ready.

Colbert shook his head to get rid of the sweat dripping into his eyes. His knuckles had turned white on the control sticks and his hands were numb because of the tight grip. He gritted his teeth and kept his eyes on the front windows ahead of him.

Space was endless, dotted with planets and stars, wormholes, asteroid fields and so much more undiscovered. It was rare for a black hole to appear as normally they were find and carefully mapped but this one that Colbert had found his spaceship in hadn’t been plotted.

‘I won’t give up,’ Colbert hissed, ‘come on, baby,’

A crackling voice came over the speaker, ‘boz, the engines are over heating!’

‘It’s fine, Linger! They can take it!’ Colbert barked back.

Linger answered but the intercom crackled over it.

Colbert puffed out and shut his eyes. His whole body was shaking and he felt dizzy.

The engines give out a churning noise then cut. Colbert smelt smoke. He let out a scream of defeat and everything began stretching as if they were warp jumping. Then the spaceship began ripping apart and groaning under the buckling stress.

More screams and yells echoed through the ship. Colbert listened to them over the intercom, his heart pounding. The front window smashed and he was sucked out, tumbling into a grave of unknown blackness.

(Inspired by; http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com)

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The Safest Place #3LineTales

‘Space station to control? Can you hear me, over?’

‘Hearing you loud and clear, space station. How are things today?’

‘Everything is great. No problems and we are all well. What about there?’

‘That’s good to hear. Well, things are not going well at the moment, The virus pandemic is really spreading. We are having to work with a skeleton crew only and have stopped or scaled back a lot of things.’

‘That’s tough. Is there nothing to be done?’

‘Not much. Accepting joining you out there. You guys are the safest people right now.’

‘Haha, Rodger that!’

 

(Inspired by; https://only100words.xyz/2020/03/26/three-line-tales-week-217/ with thanks).

Time Blur #FridayFictioneer

Ivan and his friends were repeatedly told not to go near the tumbled down red barn on the edge of Slim’s farm. From a distance, there seemed nothing wrong with the abandoned structure so the teenagers wondered why they had to stay away.

Bored one afternoon, they checked the barn out. Entering, it seemed to be a normal, empty wooden building. So, had some bad secret the villagers wanted to stay hidden happened here?

Messing about, they accidentally triggered something. There was a mighty whooping sound, the barn began to shake then vanished, casting the teenagers into time and space unknown.

 

(Inspired by; https://rochellewisoff.com/2020/02/19/21-february-2020/ with thanks).

Star Storm #WeeklyWritingChallenge

The road before me stretched out like a never ending twisting black snake. My car’s full beam headlights showed there was nothing in the way. Just some warning signs about cattle or horses or blind bends decorating the road side. On both sides rose dark hills dotted with trees. Sometimes, I’d pass large farm houses or small cottages who’s windows glowed with light but were quickly swallowed into darkness once more.

‘Arriving at your destination on the left,’ the male robot voice of the Sat Nav called out.

I indicated out of habit and pulled into a small empty car park. Turning off the engine, I gathered my stuff and got out. The late evening air was warm with an underlining cold breezy. Struggling to juggle everything, I locked my car and turned on my torch. Following the large beam of light to a gate, I opened it and went through then began my walk up the high hill.

My heavy equipment dragged me down, but I ploughed on. My breathing hard in my ears and the only sound to be heard for miles. I turned my thoughts to think about how worthwhile this night would be. After months of planning this was finally it! And when anyone asked where I was back then I could say with pride that I was here watching it all.

I climbed to the top, caught my breath then began setting everything up. Once done, I gazed up into the sky through the telescope. There were billions of stars up there, all shining down and just waiting to be discovered. Beyond which of course were even more things which it made me feel like this was just the brink. After a few tries, I found the right place in space and watched with held breath the spectacular rain of shooting stars.

(Inspired by; https://secretkeeper.net/2018/05/28/weekly-writing-challenge-143/ with thanks).

Opening #TaleWeaver

They had been travelling through the wormhole for months now and hadn’t seen anything. With the massive transporter spaceship on emergency power though something could easily have been missed, but Captain said it was for the best if they all wanted to survive.

Looking out into the pitch dark nothingness, Kes sighed and wished he’d trusted his gut when they had first seen the wormhole. If he’d only spoken out sooner…but then there had been a lot of ifs in his life. If only he’d tried harder at school and army pilot cadet camp, if only he hadn’t broken up with Lu, if only he hadn’t be come so broke he’d had to take the only pilot job offered to him.

Kes growled and threw the green stress ball he had been playing with at the large window. It bounced off and flew over his shoulder. He glanced behind, trying to spot where it had gone, but it was lost, just like they were. Sprawling in the deep chair, he thought about trying to sleep. He was meant to be on watch, but what did it matter?

Something flashed to his left, Kes eyed it, thinking it only a button on the control desk. Then though, the green flash got bigger and brighter. Kes sat up, realising it was something outside. Had they finally found the wormhole’s exit? He stood up, so he could see more and watch as the green flashes took a shape that looked like a circle made up of connected chains.

He pressed a small yellow button close to his right hand and spoke so the whole spaceship could hear him, ‘there’s something ahead. Possible tunnel or an exit. Everyone prepare for anything.’

Sitting down, Kes thought about awaking the engines out of sleep and switching all the power back on, but his fingers stopped above all the buttons. What if this was nothing? What if it was just a dream?

He tried to shake himself awake then the Captain and first mate came through the door. They took the the two empty seats to Kes’ right side and looked at the green circle which had stopped flashing now.

‘What does the computer say?’ the captain asked.

Kes looked and realised he hadn’t bothered to ask it. He shrugged and went to but then the green circle seemed to expended or maybe it actually wasn’t and they just had reached it. The spaceship entered the circle and went right through without any problems. Before them, the blackness changed and became lit with stars and planets.

‘We made it,’ Kes uttered.

‘Where are we though?’ the first mate asked.

‘It doesn’t matter,’ Kes snapped back, ‘at least we are finally out of there!’

 

(Inspired from; https://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2017/09/14/tale-weaver-137-14917-opening with thanks.)

Star Race

The three of them sat in the natural hot water spring rock tub, relaxing. Above them the late night sky was a wash with colourful clouds and stars. This morning, they had placed bets on which spaceship would win the Intergalactic Ring Race tomorrow. However, they had all entered the race and voted for each other, because it was all a bit of fun between brothers.

(Inspired from; https://allaboutwritingandmore.wordpress.com/2017/08/24/daily-picture-prompt-236/ with thanks.)

Out There

The sound of beeping woke her from her coma like sleep. Rising her head, she looked up and after a few moments realised she didn’t have a clue where she was. Sitting up fully, she found herself to be on the floor of a long straight corridor. There was a bright blue carpet underneath her and the walls were white and arching in shape.

She stood up, using the wall to support herself as her legs were numb and shaking. Wiping her hands on the blue jumpsuit she was wearing, she looked right and left. The sound of the beeping filled the air and the light was dim. Taking in deep breaths she smelt only smoke.

Where am I? In an old building? What’s happened? She thought.

Patting herself down, she checked to make sure she was fine and also what she had on her. In one side pocket she found a small fabric case containing an incomplete tool kit. In a front pocket was a thin rectangle of glass, which reminded her of a tablet screen. In a long pocket by her right leg, she found a sheathed dagger and a square white device that looked like a mini taser gun. It had a black wrist strap and a red button on the side.

She slipped the device on to her right wrist, even though she wasn’t sure how to use it, but feeling comforted by it’s presence. The dagger she put carefully back. Double checking she had nothing else on her, she looked about again. The beeping and smell of smoke continued, but she couldn’t tell which way it was coming from.

Deciding to go to the right, she set off and followed the corridor to the end. Along the way, she passed closed doors that seemed to have no way to open them. Coming to a stop at the double doors, she looked for a way to open them. There were no buttons anywhere. Then without knowing why, she touched her fingers to a small section of the wall and it came off to reveal a hidden circuit board.

Trying not to think about it, she looked at the flashing red light and the wires snaking around. Gentle, she reached out and and touched a few things. The red light went out, changing to green and the doors before her opened.

How did I know how to do that? she pondered.

She looked at the circuits again, but couldn’t figure it out. Stepping into what was a lift, she searched for a panel of buttons and something tell her where she was. There was nothing though and the oval pale white walls were bare. The doors closed and the lift moved silently up. She felt a flutter of butterflies in her stomach.

When the lift stopped and the doors opened again a few moments later, she peered around them. There was a short corridor ahead of her, ending in a control room.

‘Hello?’ she called out.

Her voice didn’t even echo. Stepping out of the lift, she walked into the room and paused. There were two large chairs in front of four joined together panels which were covered in buttons, lights, switches, screens, dials and English words.

‘A plane cockpit?’ she muttered aloud.

She slotted in between the chairs and looked down at the largest of the screens. Her fingers reached out and she tapped it lightly. The screen came on at the same time the view before her changed. Windows that had been blacked out opened and she gasped loudly.

Wherever she had thought she was got wiped away, as her brain realised what she was seeing. Before her in a vast darkness were pin points of white that could only be distant stars.

‘Space? I’m in space!’ she cried.

She took in a few deep breaths and tried to think.

‘How? Why? Who am I?’

That questioned buzzed around her head like a fly. Sinking into the pilot’s seat, she looked for any clues, but found nothing. Remembering the main screen she looked back at it. There was a blueprint of the spaceship and sections of it were flashing red for damaged. After a few minutes of studying the map, her brain decided that the ship wasn’t that badly damaged. Also, the fire that started in a storage area had been put out by the automatic system.

She looked at the controls again and debating what to do. A few of the buttons were flashing different colors, including one that said engine autopilot which was flashing red. She touched it. tThe light turned green and she felt the rumbling of engines coming to life.

‘What do I do now?’ she uttered.

‘Destination: Raydon,’ a female computer voice cut in, ‘route set.’

‘Oh…Where is that?’ she asked.

The large screen glowed and a 3D model image of a space system appeared before her. There were a few different round planets, stars and some other strange shapes. One of the planets was flashing.

‘I guess there’ll be someone there who might be able to help me figure out what’s happened. And I can’t think of anything else to do right now. Let’s go there,’ she spoke.

‘Course inlaid. Arrival time four hours,’ the computer informed her.

‘Four hours? Isn’t there anyone else on this ship?’ she cried.

‘No. Everyone evacuated,’ the computer responded.

‘Why?’

‘Hull breach. It’s been temporary sealed.’

‘Will it be alright?’ she asked.

The computer fell silent and she watched on a smaller screen as ship blueprints and calculations went by.

‘Seal will fail in six hours,’ the computer announced.

‘We should be okay then….’

She trailed off and looked out of the window again. Stars were going by and she could just see the burning edges of a planet. She shut her eyes and tried hard to recall who she was. For a few moments, she felt it on the edge of her tongue then it was gone.

Someone out there will know who I am, she thought and then she settled back to watch space going by.

Faulty

Telling myself that I wasn’t stuck, I carefully lowered the screwdriver and balanced it on my chest before trailing my hands down to my heavily pregnant belly. The little voice at the back of my head once again questioned why I was under the spaceship’s main engine changing the last of the faulty power crystals.

‘Because no one can be trusted,’ I spoke.

‘You okay?’ a very distant voice answered me back.

‘Next time, husband, when you meet barbarian traders offering you a too good a deal, walk away!’ I yelled.

Taking the purple, pulsing crystal out, I slotted a new one in it’s place. The red warning light and ringing alarm cut off. I sighed then slowly backed away, dragging my tools with me. Coming out the hatch, I fixed a scowl on my face.

The whole crew were stood in the room, looking worried.

‘I fixed it. Everything should be fine now. Don’t ever mess with my ship again,’ I added to my husband as he helped me up.

 

 

Story prompt from: https://flashfictionforaspiringwriters.wordpress.com/2016/09/12/fffaw-challenge-week-of-september-13-2016/#comments

Photo prompt provided by Jade M. Wong with thanks.

 

Red Sun

As I drove out alone, I couldn’t help but think it shouldn’t have been this way. Everyone else was heading the same way I was; to the edge of the planet. All around me, a whole mix of different machines raced by and I gritted my teeth and wondered what was so great about a space bike anyway.

Of course, everything was the only answer and that was why she had left me. I clutched the wheel and felt my Earth car bumping along. It had been some big joke for awhile, but then it had been ‘cool’ and she had loved it. I guess I always knew it wasn’t going to work though.

I pulled up and cut the engine. I was a meter or so away from the edge, but that was good enough for me. I watched a space boat taking off and heading just like every other thing seemed to be towards the eclipsing sun and moon. The view out there must have been good. For me though, the magic had drained out of it.

I looked at the glove box, which was just a small drawer in the dashboard. Even though I knew what was in there, I pushed the button and let it fall open anyway. The black space was empty but for a white square box which I took out. Tonight should have been our night, but she had made the message all to clear.

I went to open the box, decided it against it and threw it back into the drawer. Above me the light was fading fast and I looked up in time to see a huge dark circle being haloed by red light. I lent back in the seat and watched the moon moving away again. I tried not to think about her, but my mind wouldn’t let go.

That’s what had happened to us, I told myself as the moon finally slipped away from the sun. We’d had that moment together and now we were back alone…Well, she was with someone else now, but that didn’t work so well with the symbolism. Still there’d be more girls and more moments, but it wouldn’t be the same.

I started the engine, backed up the earth car and headed for home. The sun was back to normal above me and to my left the moon was returning to it’s route. I began to wonder about them in a strange way, picturing the moon and sun as lovers who could only met during the eclipse.

Perhaps that was just nonsense, but maybe somewhere it was true.

 

Story prompt from;

<a href=”https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/eclipse/”>Eclipse</a&gt;

Freedom

She felt like she was free. Free to do anything she wanted and be whoever she wanted. She marvelled in that knowledge, wondering how she’d spent so many years in the dark. The blind fold of love felt so heavy around her neck and her shoulders weighed down by the past. The turbulence of emotions threated again, but she accepted them gracefully. Now, was the time to grieve and afterwards a stronger woman would be born.